A quotation by Pappus

There being, then, three figures which of themselves can fill up space round a point, viz. the triangle, the square and the hexagon, the bees have wisely selected for their structure that which contains most angles, suspecting indeed that it could hold more honey than either of the other two.
Quoted in D'A W Thompson On Growth and Form (Cambridge 1917)

JOC/EFR December 2013

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